Rihanna and many other A-list celebs slayed the runway in lingerie at the Savage X Fenty show, which started streaming last Friday (October 2).
Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty line has been praised for its air of inclusivity and diverse casting. However, over the weekend, some fans called out the “Work” singer for using sacred texts in Islam during the show.
The song “Doom,” a track by musical producer Coucou Chloe, was used, and many pointed out that the song samples a hadith, which, according to CNN, is “a written record of the sayings and actions of the Prophet Mohammed and his closest companions, is considered extremely sacred to Muslims, and come secondary only to the Quran in terms of textual authority.”
“How is it okay for Rihanna to have a show of people dancing in underwear with an Islamic hadith about judgment day playing in the background?” one fan asked on TikTok. “If this was the Bible being used, the entire world would be enraged. How is it okay for the work of the most renowned Islamic scholar to be used as music for lingerie?”
While another tweeted, “okay the fact that rihanna’s show was supposed to be a keystone for “inclusion” while she completely alienated the Muslim community by disrespecting a Hadith recitation is the perfect showcase of how fashion brands & the media have never considered us as a part of their audience.”
“Rihanna, I used to cheer you up for everything you did, but today you disrespected my religion, I’m so hurt, you have been to far, you and the girl who made the music have to apologize for what you did, that’s the minimum you can do,” a Twitter-user wrote.
Following the backlash, Coucou issued an apology on Twitter Monday (October 5), vowing to pull out the song from streaming platforms.
“I want to deeply apologize for the offence caused by the vocal samples used in my song ‘DOOM’. The song was created using samples from Baile Funk tracks I found online. At the time, I was not aware that these samples used text from an Islamic Hadith,” she wrote. “I take full responsibility for the fact I did not research these words properly and want to thank those of you who have taken the time to explain this to me. We have been in the process of having the song urgently removed from all streaming platforms.”
Rihanna also apologized in a statement posted on her Instagram Stories.
“I’d like to thank the Muslim community for pointing out a huge oversight that was unintentionally offensive in our Savage X Fenty show,” Rihanna wrote. “I would more importantly like to apologize for this honest, yet careless mistake. We understand that we have hurt many of our Muslim brothers and sisters, and I’m incredibly disheartened by this. I do not play with any kind of disrespect toward God or any religion and therefore the use of this song in our project was completely irresponsible! Moving forward, we will make sure nothing like this ever happens again.”
